Making The Case For Reusable Shop Towels This plows new ground for the textile ser-vices industry, which is naturally focused on touting our products’ green virtues in their later-life phases (use and disposal). Again, not surprisingly to those of us with “soap suds in our veins,” the TRSA LCA re-search shows that reusables compare better in scenarios involving heavier disposables and their associated landfilling burden. Why wouldn’t they? We invest much time and energy into processes that extend the lives of reusables so they do not end up in landfills prema-turely. Economics drive quality. Industrial launderers don’t just wash shop towels, we own them. Because we provide them on a rental ba-sis, we must ensure they remain clean and useful for as long as they are in service. That means paying very close attention to soil removal and absorbency as they are reused. The latter is critical to maintaining their competitive edge against disposables. Science And Proactive Steps Applied Preserving this capability is a science and requires diligence. It starts when soiled towels are retrieved from our customers’ shops. We prevent their waste disposal challeng-es from becoming problems for laundering by refusing to carry free liquids in the con-tainers in which soiled reusable textiles are shipped back to our facilities for washing. In some cases, centrifuges are used to wring out shop towels on the customer’s site. Also, we use nylon or mesh bags to re-trieve them and we stipulate how they are ac-cumulated for our weekly pickup. One technique involves storing soiled tow-els in a 30-gallon drum with a grate the width of the drum inside, close to the bottom. Towels sit in a mesh bag hanging down in-side the drum from the rim. Excess liquid on the towels drips through the bag and grate to the actual bottom, which has a spigot for the customer to drain the excess. “No free liquids” is a shop towel launder-er’s mantra. Most state governments agree that the lack of dripping ultimately disqualifies shop towels bound for laundering as hazardous waste and frees them from being regulated as such. By this fall, EPA intends to codify this as a federal rule. Some companies specialize in the most difficult towel work. My boss of 30 years, the late J. Stanley Coyne of Syracuse, New York, was known as the “Father of the Shop Towel.” Coyne Textile Services has long mastered the customer communication necessary to ensure that businesses don’t mishandle problematic soils (solvents, oils, greases) and accordingly make towels impossible to laun-der — and that their people wipe correctly so this doesn’t overexpose them to these soils. Such education is the key to maximizing safety. TRSA’s best practices for shop towel users include: ■ Employees must wear appropriate 32 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • May 2013
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